how to spell: though, through thorough, thought

Another spelling lesson from howtospell.co.uk helping you improve your spelling so you can write with confidence, and boost your job prospects. Let's look at Through, though, thorough, thought

These words look very similar to each other and are easy to confuse and spell. In this video we're taking a thorough look through these nightmare words and though you might get confused keep your thought processes open while we work on how you can remember them. Phew!

Can you see the letter pattern they all have? -ough a tricky pattern to learn and spell.
Plus they all have th-

In my other video on the history and pronunciation of -gh- words we learnt that these -gh- words are Anglo-Saxon words and were written with just an h and used to be pronounced like the Scottish loch. But then the French invaded and added a g to the h to reflect the 'hard' h sound. This sound eventually became silent or pronounced with a "f" at the end of some words. We leave the gh in there to show the origins and history of the word.


Let's look at the through. It means in one side and out the other: go through a door, walk through the park, struggle through until pay day. We've also got throughout (1 word). He checks stock throughout the warehouse.

Through is the only one of the words that starts with t.h.r.- "thr". We have though, thorough, thought and through.

We have a "thr" + "oo" a long vowel sound. We get it confused with the past tense of throw - threw. These are homophones that means they have the same sound but different meaning and spelling. (for more info check my homophones video).

Through has it's own pattern and sound thr- like three, throw, throttle so the pronunciation can help with the first sound but then you have to learn the -ough pattern which they all have. Use a memory trick or use the Look Say Cover write check method the help with the learning of it (watch my video about this method).

Though means in spite of the fact that; however, but, and we have even though and although which is more formal.

The sun was shining though it wasn't that warm.
Even though it's small , the room has a spacious feel

Though is made up of th + "oh" the ough is a short vowel sound "oh" memory trick - though doughnuts (Brit spelling) are oh so delicious u get hefty


Thorough - done with great care and completeness. 'Planners need a thorough understanding of the subject. It would be great if everyone had a thorough knowledge of English spelling.

We can also add ly and make thoroughly.She examined it thoroughly.

through and though are pronounced with one syllable but thorough has 2 syllables "th ru"

It sounds like borough, Scarborough, Boroughbridge.

It's like through with an extra o added after the th th o rough.
Come up with memory trick that can help with this word.

The last word is thought and is the most common word of the lot. It's the past tense of think - I thought this was the end but it's not. It's also a noun a thought , an idea.

Thought is made up of th + ort ( a long vowel sound) It's like though with a t at the end.thought sounds like and is spelt like the others in the -ought patternbought, brought, fought, ought, sought, nought. So if you can spell one of these you can relate it to thought. If not then come up with a memory trick.

That's it, I've hoped you've learnt something. Check out the videos I mentioned on the -gh- letter pattern and the Look Say Cover Write check method. Or go to my website www.howtospell.co.uk and they're on there with exercises to do Thank you so much for watching and see you in the next video. ciao.

I have a great spelling patterns and pronunciation course if you'd like to develop your spelling, pronunciation and knowledge of important letter patterns
- howtospell-letterpatterns.co.uk/